Jane Winslow - Holy Water

In the first paragraph of the eighth chapter in Landscapes of the Sacred, Lane mentions water from the stone grotto outside the Church of St. Lucy is seen as holy. The people who come to receive it, take it for “healing powers” and even go so far as to put it in their radiators for a safe drive home. What is it that makes this normal water so sacred? Lane even mentions that that the water appears to be the same as New York water. Clearly there is something more to this water than the fact that the faucet is located near a church imbedded in a rock.
Shrine Mont, an Episcopalian retreat in Shenandoah County, has the same idea. We have a copper pipe that constantly pours water into a small pool, the water originates in one of the seven springs of the area. Ever since I was a kid you would cup your hands under the spout, drink from your hands and make a wish. As I recall, only a few of my wishes came true the way I wanted them to, and the more specific I was the more accurate the reply was.
I suppose that the making of something magical is to believe in it, even when it fails. Kind of like with God, we trust that everything he does is for a reason, even if it’s not exactly what we want. My father always makes the joke that, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him you have a plan.”